{"title":"Does commercialisation drive technical efficiency improvements in Ethiopian subsistence agriculture","authors":"W. Tirkaso, S. Hess","doi":"10.22004/AG.ECON.273136","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The conditions in which increased market participation leads to improved technical efficiency are still not adequately understood. This study therefore investigated farmers’ market participation rates and their predicted technical efficiency scores by performing a two-stage least squares (2SLS) regression analysis using household-level data obtained from the 2009 Ethiopian rural household survey. The predicted efficiency score from the stochastic frontier production function showed that the farmers had a mean technical efficiency score of 40.2%, implying that their output could be increased substantially if improvements were made to existing input mixes. The variables related to educational level and radio and mobile telephone access were positively linked to a farmer’s technical efficiency. The estimated results also indicated that farmers with a higher degree of commercialisation were technically more efficient compared to those with lower market participation. The overall results suggest the importance of increasing the market participation rate of smallholders in order to improve agricultural productivity in rural Ethiopia.","PeriodicalId":45228,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics-AFJARE","volume":"27 1","pages":"44-57"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"11","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics-AFJARE","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.22004/AG.ECON.273136","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS & POLICY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 11
Abstract
The conditions in which increased market participation leads to improved technical efficiency are still not adequately understood. This study therefore investigated farmers’ market participation rates and their predicted technical efficiency scores by performing a two-stage least squares (2SLS) regression analysis using household-level data obtained from the 2009 Ethiopian rural household survey. The predicted efficiency score from the stochastic frontier production function showed that the farmers had a mean technical efficiency score of 40.2%, implying that their output could be increased substantially if improvements were made to existing input mixes. The variables related to educational level and radio and mobile telephone access were positively linked to a farmer’s technical efficiency. The estimated results also indicated that farmers with a higher degree of commercialisation were technically more efficient compared to those with lower market participation. The overall results suggest the importance of increasing the market participation rate of smallholders in order to improve agricultural productivity in rural Ethiopia.
期刊介绍:
The African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics (AfJARE)/Journal Africain d’Economie Agricole et des Ressources (JAEAR) is a publication of the African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE). The journal publishes original research about how African agriculture interacts with local and global economic systems and policy regimes in its impacts upon people. The scope of the journal covers the roles of markets, technology, policy, institutions and the natural environment in shaping the lives of well being of Africans engaged in agricultural activities. The journal strives to nurture and enhance the capacity of African professionals to conduct and publish scientific research and provides a venue for communicating and disseminating their findings. Multi-disciplinary, problem-oriented articles are encouraged. Submissions may deal with teaching, research extension, consulting, advising, entrepreneurship and administration. The Chief Editors and Editorial Board, under the general direction of the AAAE President, Executive Committee and Council are charged with implementing Journal policy to serve members of AAAE. The main section of the journal publishes technical research articles while a small section is devoted to publishing brief notes with important policy content and book reviews. The journal is a quarterly publication.